“They kept saying it was going to come and it never came,” Tigers pitcher
Max Scherzer said. “So go figure.”

About an hour later, however, heavy rain started to fall, soaking the tarp
that was placed on the infield before the postponement.

With the Tigers seeking a sweep in the best-of-seven series, Game 4 was
rescheduled for Thursday at 4:07 p.m. New York will send ace CC Sabathia to the
mound against Scherzer. The Tigers will have lefty Phil Coke who saved Games 2
and 3, available after a day of rest.

Game 5, if necessary, would be Friday in Detroit.

Under the original schedule, there was a good chance Sabathia would pitch a
potential Game 7 on three days’ rest if the Yankees rallied in the series. Now,
he might be limited to one start—and New York might need to win four games in
four days to advance.

“You cannot think about Game 7 when you need to win a game,” New York
second baseman Robinson Cano said.

Yankees center fielder Curtis Granderson benched along with third baseman
Alex Rodriguez by manager Joe Girardi on Wednesday before the game was called,
said the unplanned night off might actually help him and his slumping team.

“It’s definitely not going to hurt by any means,” Granderson said. “We
haven’t played well to this point. Who knows? Change is always a good thing.”

The first pitch Wednesday night was slated for 8:07 p.m. But shortly before
the scheduled start, the crowd was informed of a delay. A radar forecast for the
Detroit area was eventually posted on the scoreboard video screen, as if to
explain to fans why there was no baseball despite what was still pleasant
weather at the ballpark.

The postponement was announced after a delay of about 70 minutes. A misty
rain finally began about 15 minutes after the postponement was announced and
steady rain followed shortly thereafter.

The Tigers are no strangers to rain in the playoffs. Last year, ace Justin
Verlander had two starts cut short by bad weather—although both were on the
road.

“A lot of people were pretty upset that Verlander didn’t get to finish his
start,” Detroit catcher Alex Avila said. “So, I think people would be pretty
upset if they didn’t get to see Scherzer and Sabathia finish their starts as
well. Major League Baseball is trying to protect not only the pitchers, but also
play a clean game without having to stop and stuff like that.”

After Game 1 of the 2011 ALCS at Texas was delayed twice for a total of 1
hour, 50 minutes, Game 2 was called off well before the scheduled first pitch
because of a forecast calling for more wet weather. Then, it didn’t rain that
night.

There is also a chance of rain in Detroit during at least parts of Thursday
and Friday, but the forecast calls for mostly sunny and partly cloudy skies late
afternoon and early evening Thursday that would allow the teams to play ball.